A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 102

A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers
UGC NET ENGLISH QUESTION BANK

1.Tottel’s Miscellany is a collection of songs and sonnets of the Elizabethan period. It was published in 1557.Volumes of poems other than Tottel‘s Miscellany:  Paradyse Dyntry Devises (1576), The Handful of Pleasant Delites( 1584), The Phoenix Nest (1593).

2.First regular satire in English poetry that appeared in the   Elizabethan period: The Steele Glas (1576) written by   George Gascoigne, in blank verse.

3. “ Astrophel and  Stella “ mean: “ Astrophel ‘” means lover of the star whereas “ Stella “ means star. In real life they were Philip Sidney and Penelope Devereux. The sonnet sequence contains 108 sonnets.

4. Sir Philip Sidney wrote The Apologie for Poetry. It was published in 1595.
5. Gosson’s School of Abuse (1579), an abusive puritan pamphlet inspired the writing of it in which Sidney defended poetry against the charges and pleaded for poetry.

6.Two important sonnet sequences of the Elizabethan age: Astrophel and Stella by Sidney and Amoretti by Spenser.

7. The first poem of Edmund Spenser: The Shepherd‘s Calendar. It is a pastoral poem. It was published in 1579.

8.  Edmund Spenser wrote Faerie Queene , published in installments – in 1589 ( first three books ), in 1596 ( the second three followed ), and after his death  two cantos and two odd stanzas of book VII appeared. It is an allegorical poem with twelve divisions.

9. The name of Spenser’s marriage song is Epithalamion. It is written in honour of his marriage with Elizabeth Boyle.

10. John Donne wrote Holy Sonnets. His three other poems--- The Good Morrow, The Sun Rising, A Nocturnal upon S.  Lucies Day.

11. ‘He affects the metaphysics ‘- Dryden said this of John Donne.

12. Two prose works of Donne: The Pseudo Martyr (1610),   Devotions (1614).

13. John Donne is called the most un-Elizabethan of the Elizabethan poets because he reacted to the conventional Petrarchan and Spenserian pattern  and established the Metaphysical School of Poetry and revolted against the easy fluent style and idealistic poetry prevalent at the time.

14.Two Elizabethan Anthologies of lyric: Tottel’s Miscellany and England’s Parnassus.

15.Four plays by George Peele: a) The Araygnement of Paris, b) The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First, c) The Old Wives’ Tale, d ) The Love of King David.

16. Some plays of Robert Greene: Alphonsus, King of Aragon, Frier Bacon, The Scottish Historie of James the fourth.

17. Some plays by Thomas Nash: Summer’s Last Will and Testament.

18.  One play and one romance of Thomas Lodge:  The Windows of Civil War (a chronicle play) ,  Rosalynde : Euphues Golden  Legacie , his romance.

19. The plays by Thomas Kyd: The Spanish Tragedie (1585), Cornelia (1593).

20. Important plays by Christopher Marlowe: The Jew of Malta, Doctor Faustus,   Tamburlaine the Great, EdwardII.

21. University wit who is not a dramatist: Thomas Nash. He wrote The Unfortunate Traveller or The Life of Jack Wilton.

22.  ABOUT SHAKESPEARE:

A.  English sovereigns under whom Shakespeare wrote his plays: Elizabeth I and James I.

B.  Shakespeare’s 36 plays in the First edition were published in 1623. Its editors were Heminge and Condell.

C.  Some comedies of Shakespeare: As You Like It, Twelfth Night.

D. The dark or Sombre comedies of Shakespeare: Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, All’s Well That Ends Well.

E.  Four tragedies of Shakespeare: Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello.

F.  The Roman plays of Shakespeare: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, based on North’s translation of Plutarch’s Lives.

G. The last plays of Shakespeare: The Winter’s Tale. Cymbeline, The Tempest.

H. Two long narrative poems of Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis (1593) , The Rape of Lucrece(1594).

I.  The Shakespearean sonnet form is composed of three quatrains followed by a couplet. Its rhyme scheme is-- abab ,cdcd, efef, gg.The Earl of Surrey ( Henry Howard ) first invented the form.

23.  John Ford’s The Broken Heart, Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi are two post-Shakespearean tragedies. Dekker’s The Shoemaker’s Holiday and Beamont and Fletecher’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle are two comedies.

24. Two comedies by Ben Jonson:  Every Man In His Humour (1598), Every Man Out Of His Humour (1599), Volpone or The Fox, The Alchemist (1610).

25. Two historical tragedies by Ben Jonson: Sejanus His Fall, Cateline his Conspiracy.

26.  Masque: Masque is the form of dramatic writing and production featuring poetry, music, and dance, originated in ancient Greece; their use in masques was part of the classical revival of the Renaissance   in court circles. In the masque, the actors wore masks and usually represented allegorical or mythical characters. The roots of the masque - Italian and French pageants and masquerades, the English disguising, the practice of mumming and the art of the troubadours. The formal court masque was introduced in 1512, during the reign of King Henry VIII of England. During the reign of James I, the masque became the most popular form of drama. The literary form was greatly improved, and a fine lyric style was introduced and perfected by the English playwright and poet Ben Jonson, who wrote many works in this genre. Jonson, Jones and Alfonso Ferrabosco -The Masque of Beauty (1608), The Masque of Blackness (1605).

  Ardhendu De

Ref: 1. History of English Literature- Albert   
       2. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature
       3. UGC NET OLD QUESTION PAPERS
       4. Encarta